The present invention relates to a package for smoking articles, such as cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, loose tobacco and smokeless tobacco products such as snuff or the like. For convenience and brevity these will be referred to herein as cigarettes. The invention relates particularly to packages for smoking articles having an inner slide and an outer shell (also known as slide-shell packs). This invention also relates to an assembly of blanks for making a package for smoking articles, an apparatus specially adapted to assemble a package and a method of assembling a package.
Slide-shell packs for smoking articles, such as cigarettes, differ from conventional hinged lid packs in that the smoking articles are provided in an inner shell which the user slides relative to an outer shell to access the smoking articles. A slide-shell pack is known from WO 2004/024595, in which a first container is slidably located within a second container.
A disadvantage of known cigarette packages is that, once opened, all of the smoking articles are exposed to environmental conditions. This allows for the ingress and egress of moisture to and from the contents of the package which may ultimately affect the quality of the contents.
Furthermore, the single inner compartment allows for only one particular product-type. If two different types of smoking article for example having different flavours and/or blends were to be supplied in a known cigarette package, the consumer could not readily identify and select one particular type.
Further, in order that the consumer receives information relating to the product and brand they choose, it is also desirable to maximise the surface area available to provide such information. Previous solutions to this problem have included the provision of coupons in the form of inserts in, or onserts on, the package. One of the disadvantages of this solution is in the provision of additional components and materials adding to the complexity of the packaging process.